NFC or Beacon? How to choose future payment technology

What kind of payment did you use to buy coffee this morning?

If you are in San Francisco, you might brush your phone at the checkout; if you are in London, maybe you tapped the smart watch; in Nairobi, Kenya, you might have sent a text message; if you are in Lund, Sweden, you might just need to stretch out Reach out.

Ten years ago, few people thought about it. In the future, there are so many ways to complete transactions in addition to using cash.

CNN quoted Sarah Clark, editor of NFC World, as saying: "People are now testing different (payment) technologies. It is not clear which way will win, or will there be one? The way to win. Because the payment method will vary depending on where you use it."

CNN said that from the current point of view, the most promising payment method is to use "contactless card" - when making small payments, people only need to hold the card and shake it gently before the card reader. .

This kind of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology has existed for many years, but it has not developed rapidly until the last two years. In March of this year, the British used this payment method to spend 109 million pounds (about 180 million US dollars), three times the previous year.

Industry insiders analyzed that the promotion of contactless cards laid the foundation for a more advanced way of paying for mobile payments. By then, people no longer need a variety of bank cards, just need to swipe their mobile phones to complete the payment.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology is also being applied to the payment field. Paypal, a leading company offering online payment solutions, has launched a mobile payment hardware device called Beacon. This device is placed at the merchant. When a consumer who installs the relevant software on the smartphone enters the store, the software will start and shake the phone to remind the customer that it has "checked in". When picking up the payment for the goods, the consumer does not need to use a mobile phone or a bank card, as long as the purchase is confirmed by voice recognition.

If you feel that this method is too "God" and people feel less practical, you can also try to pay by hand.

Brushing the palm to identify identity is not a new technology, but combining it with payment is the idea of ​​Swedish engineer Frederic Lefland. After shopping, the consumer only needs to put the palm of his hand on the scanner, and then enter the 4 digits of the phone. The scanner will read the blood vessel in your palm for about 5 seconds to confirm identity.

Currently, this payment method is promoted at 15 merchants near Lund University in Sweden, and about 1,600 people use it frequently.